Middle East Meltdown 006 – Ezekiel 37

The Middle East Meltdown 006 – Ezekiel 37

By Dr Andy Woods – 02/06/2022

Ezekiel 37:9-13

Alright! Well, let’s open in a word of prayer. Father, we’re grateful for today, grateful for loud noises also, no. Father, we are grateful for today and I just remember last year around this time when a similar cold front came in and we were without power and all that and so I just thank you that we’re not going through that again and so you blessed us with power and Wi-Fi and electricity and running water and all the things we sort of take for granted and so, you’ve also given us the Holy Spirit by which we can understand your word. We do pause just for a moment, personally, just to do personal business with you in case we’ve sinned in thought, word and deed, so that fellowship can be restored and we can have unbroken access to your word today via the Holy Spirit. We’re thankful for the promise of 1st John chapter 1, verse 9 (1 John 1:9) which doesn’t get us saved, but it does restore broken fellowship when necessary and we do that because we want to gain everything there is to gain today as your people from your word and I do ask that the Holy Spirit would minister today your word to your people. We’ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. God’s people said, Amen. 1:59

Alright! Well, if you could find the book of Ezekiel chapter 37. Every time I type into my computer Ezekiel, spell check comes in and tries to change it to Easy Kill and so the people monitoring the computers and internet are going to think I’m a terrorist or something probably. Look at what he wrote, Easy Kill, that’s proof. No, it’s not Easy Kill, it’s Ezekiel

Ezekiel 33‒48

1. Ezekiel recommissioned (33)
2. False shepherds removed (34)
3. Edom destroyed  (35)
4. Israel’s restoration: physical & spiritual (36)
5. Israel’s restoration illustrated (37)
6. Means of restoration: Northern invasion (38)
7.  Results of the Northern invasion: conversion (39)
8. Millennial Temple (40‒46)
9. Tribal land allotment (47‒48)

and we’re doing this study that we started the New Year, entitled the Middle East Meltdown where we’re taking a look at chapters 36 through 39, because those are the chapters of anywhere else in the Bible you can think of, those of the chapters that are really in play right now, as God is working in history to fulfill His prophetic word. Ezekiel, 36, which we finished last time, is one of the most tremendous prophecies in the Bible concerning the physical and spiritual restoration of Israel in the last days.

Ezekiel 36

1. Israel to prosper again (Ezek 36:1-15)
2. Israel’s sins inhibiting prosperity (Ezek 36:16-21)
3. Israel to be restored: physically & spiritually (Ezek 36:22-38)

It’s hard to find a passage or a chapter that explains it with as much detail as does the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 36. But just in case we didn’t get the picture, Ezekiel, 37, which we started last time, comes alongside Ezekiel, 36, and it explains the content in Ezekiel, 36 in two metaphors.

Ezekiel 33‒48

1. Ezekiel recommissioned (33)
2. False shepherds removed (34)
3. Edom destroyed  (35)
4. Israel’s restoration: physical & spiritual (36)
5. Israel’s restoration illustrated (37)
6. Means of restoration: Northern invasion (38)
7.  Results of the Northern invasion: conversion (39)
8. Millennial Temple (40‒46)
9. Tribal land allotment (47‒48)

So here we’re moving from point to picture.

Ezekiel 37

1. Vision: Valley of the Dry Bones (Ezek 37:1-14)
   1. Vision (Ezek 37:1-10)
   2. Interpretation (Ezek 37:11-14)
2. Sign: Two Sticks (Ezek 37:15-28)
   1. Sign (Ezek 37:15-17)
   2. Interpretation (Ezek 37:18-28)

The first picture is the valley of the dry bones, which we started last time verses 1 through 14 (Ezek 37:1-14) and the second image is the two sticks coming together verses 15 through 28 (Ezek 37:15-28) and again these are here not to contradict Ezekiel, 36, but they’re there to support Ezekiel, 36, by putting it sort of the content in the form of a word picture or word pictures. 4:36

So, verses 1 through 14 is the valley of the dry bones and it begins with a vision and we had almost completed the vision because we made all the way to verse 8. If you look back at verse 8, just for a minute (Ezek 37:8), it says: I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them… So what Ezekiel has seen, as the Lord has brought him to the valley of vision to give him this vision, is bones coming together so that they form a human skeleton and then muscles and skin you know sort of form over this skeleton so that it looks like a human body and then Ezekiel is very clear in verse 8, but there was no breath in the body. So you’ve got the body without breath, in other words. The breath, as we’ll see, is the Holy Spirit. The word for breath or wind or spirit in these chapters is the word in Hebrew “Ruah” and so it’s kind of an interesting thing that Ezekiel saw, he saw this body fully formed and developed as bones came together from being scattered all over a valley. He was told to proclaim and the bones came together and the muscles and the skin but there’s no breath. So that requires an additional work of God to bring breath into the body. So the body is in existence and God did it, but now God needs to do something else, He needs to bring breath into the body. So notice if you will verse 9 (Ezek 37:9), it says: And He said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life… So you’ll notice the repetition of the word “prophesy” there in verse 9 and it’s interesting that God could have done this work without Ezekiel knowing about it, He could have done this work without Ezekiel prophesying or proclaiming, but God chose to work in an environment of a proclaiming prophet and one of the things that we made reference to last time is that’s how God works also in the church age. The idea of preaching and proclamation is really not ultimately man’s idea, it’s God’s idea and when God’s word is consistently and faithfully taught, preached, proclaimed, God works. 7:55

I can’t tell you how many misunderstandings I’ve had in my Christian life or insight that I needed just being in an environment where the word of God was being taught and it’s sort of a mystery how God does this, it’s a mystery how God works, only God knows the individual needs that are out there; and God doesn’t call the preacher to analyze all of the needs, what He calls the preacher to do is to preach or proclaim faithfully what God has said and God in a mysterious way takes His word and applies it to His people. So this is why when you get into the New Testament, Paul’s final words to Timothy, prior to Paul’s death, was 2nd Timothy, 4, verse 2: Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season… In other words, do this when it’s popular and when it’s not popular… Correct, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction… So the Greek there is keruxon ton logon, I think, preach the word and when Dallas seminary it was started back in the 1920’s they had kind of an insignia and I think they still have it cause I remember seeing it when I was a student there and it says on keruxon ton logon, preach the word, reminding the students that they’re there at the school, not to learn to give their own opinions on things, but they’re there to learn God’s word, so they can be proclaimers of God’s word in wherever God sends them and it’s sort of a sad reality how seminaries have gotten away from that, they’ve gotten in all kinds of things other than that and so when we started Chafer Seminary, you know, we wanted to continue with that original vision of “preach the word”. You’re here at this school to learn the word of God so you can be a proclaimer of it, so you can fulfill the command in 2nd Timothy chapter 4, verse 2 (2 Tim 4:2), because God works through his proclaimed word. Isaiah, 55, verse 11 (Isa 55:11), this is a promise I go back to a lot, because as a preacher, sometimes you can get discouraged because you have no idea, is God using this or not? But there’s actually a promise that God makes concerning the proclamation of His word. He says in Isaiah, 55, verse 11 (Isa 55:11): So will My word which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it… So in other words, God promises that when His word is taught, it does not return void. It will always accomplish the purpose for which it was sent; and sometimes as preachers we don’t even know the purpose for which it was sent. But when you start getting emails from people and they start talking about how the Lord used a sermon to touch them in a particular area and in hindsight you remember that you gave that sermon and it had nothing to do with the area that they’re talking about, you say, well, praise the Lord. I mean, that’s how God works, that’s God’s word proclaimed. That’s what God promises to do and so, we don’t even know sometimes how God’s going to use it. We know He will use it and how uses it is His business. Our business is to be faithful to it. 12:02

So you’ll see this repetition over and over again, prophesy, prophesy, prophesy. So Ezekiel is told to prophesy again, this time not for the body coming together but for the breath to enter the body and of course, God works. Verse 10 (Ezek 37:10): So I prophesied as He commanded me… Now what if Ezekiel had said well, you know Lord, you’ve got Your agenda, I’ve got my agenda, I want to talk about something else. God wouldn’t have worked and this is where a lot of preachers drop the ball, they don’t do as verse 10 says, so I prophesied as He commanded. They try to impose their own agenda on things and when you impose your own agenda on things, you may have a well-oiled machine at the end of the day, but you don’t have the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. The only thing man can create is a machine. He cannot create anything that is life changing in people and so there are many churches today, you know, you look at them and they function like a well-oiled machine but you go there and it’s sort of like a Ted talk with a light show and you kind of leave unchanged and that shouldn’t surprise us cause the proclaimers there have not done what God said. Ezekiel did exactly what God said. So I prophesied as He commanded me and the breath came into them, that’s the body and the bones, and they came to life and stood on their feet an exceedingly great army. So you will notice here what many people miss is a twofold re-gathering of Israel. It’s very clear when you look at this verse by verse in its proper chronology. First, the body comes together and then, there’s a separate work of God subsequent to that where the breath or the Holy Spirit enters the body. Now that’s illustrative of exactly what we learned in Ezekiel, 36, the prior chapter, verses 24 and 25 (Ezek 36:24-25) where God said there: For I will take you from the nations and bring you into your own land… And then you look at verse 25 and it says: Then… So this is a subsequent work… Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean… So first the nation of Israel comes back into their own land in unbelief without the Holy Spirit, that’s verse 24, then the Holy Spirit comes upon the nation of Israel. So verse 24 is the body and the bones and the muscles coming together and verse 25 is the breath entering the body. So all Ezekiel is doing here is he’s giving a word picture to illustrate what he already said back in chapter 36. So one of the things that we believe and one of the things that we teach is the two fold re-gathering of Israel.

First Israel comes back in unbelief. Then, there’s going to be a second subsequent work of God where the Holy Spirit will enter the nation of Israel. So that’s why I like this chart here by Dr. Randall Price, he kind of articulates this in the form of a chart, Israel’s two re-gatherings: The first and present re-gathering versus the second and permanent re-gathering. In the first re-gathering, she comes back to part of the land. But in the second re-gathering at the end of the tribulation, after she’s scattered by the antichrist, she’ll return to all of the land. The present re-gathering is in unbelief, the second re-gathering is a return in faith. The first re-gathering she’s restored to the land only, in the second re-gathering she’ll be restored to the land and the Lord. The first re-gathering sets the stage for discipline of the tribulation, that’s why she’s been recycled back. The second stage which is spoken of in other passages like Matthew, 24, verse 31 (Matt 24:31), Isaiah chapter 27, verse 13 (Isa 27:13). The second re-gathering is going to set the stage for millennial blessing. So who are we? Well, we’re living literally in between those two columns. It’s been that way since 1948 when Israel became a nation again in unbelief and as are being recycled into their land, they’re being prepared for the events of the tribulation and by the time the events of the tribulation unfold, you’ll have a converted Israel; and so I bring this up cause many, many people, John Piper being one, will tell you that the current state of Israel means absolutely nothing, means absolutely nothing prophetically and the logic is, they’re a bunch unbelievers over there. 17:39

The truth to the matter is though, if you look at the chronology of Ezekiel, 36 and Ezekiel, 37 God said He would be at work in the life of the nation of Israel prior to their conversion. That’s what the chronology of chapter 36 and chapter 37 is clearly, clearly teaching and so this idea that, you know, the Jews over there, they’re in unbelief, how could God be at work?, is just dispelled when you just actually look at this verse by verse. The fact to the matter is God was at work in your life before you got saved, did you know that? I could show that to you in the Bible in John, 16, verses 7 through 11 (John 16:7-11), Jesus talked about the work of the Holy Spirit in the world and that’s not talking there about the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer or in the church. Before God works in the life of the believer or in the life of the church, He was at work in the world convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Sin, it says John, 16, verse 8 (John 16:8) because they do not believe. So if God can be at work in my life before I got saved, why would we say that that can’t happen for Israel? I mean, it can clearly happen and the chronology of Ezekiel, 36, and 37 reveals that it’s happening. It is sad to watch the dispensational community deny what I just said. Some of the younger dispensationalists do not believe what I just said. They basically follow, very sadly, the mindset of John Piper, who denies God’s work in Israel because Israel is in unbelief. So that forces me to be a good scholar and to go back to the prior generation to prove that dispensationalists actually believed, not the modern ones so much but the old guard, believed exactly what I’m saying here. 20:10

So you’ll notice this quote from Charles Feinberg in his Ezekiel commentary, which I highly recommend to you, and this was written in 1969 and I was 3 years old, you know, when this was written. So obviously we’re dealing with a prior generation and Feinberg clearly says:

Charles L. Feinberg – The Prophecy of Ezekiel: The Glory of the Lord, Paperback ed. (Chicago: Moody, 1969; reprint, Chicago: Moody, 1984), 213-14.

“Apparently the reference to the absence of breath in the bodies indicated that when Israel will be returned to the land in the latter days, they will be unconverted. Surely the general tenor of the prophetic Scriptures points in this direction (See Zech. 13:8-9). Otherwise, it is difficult to see how a covenant could be made nationally with such a godless one as the Roman prince of the end times (cf. Dan. 9:27).”

Apparently the reference to the absence of breath in the bodies indicated that when Israel will be returned to the land in the latter days, they will be unconverted. Surely the general tenor of the prophetic Scriptures points in this direction… Now, he quotes there Zechariah chapter 13, verses 8-9 (Zech 13:8-9), which we are studying on Wednesday evenings, which is a prophecy we haven’t gotten to yet, but it’s a very clear prophecy that Israel will go into the tribulation and two thirds of them will be killed and God will use that process to bring the third or the remainder to faith. So obviously, you can’t have that happening unless Israel is recycled into her land in unbelief. Feinberg goes on and says: Otherwise, it is difficult to see how a covenant could be made nationally with such a godless one as the Roman prince of the end times… (Close quote) What is happening to Israel now is she is being set up to receive the antichrist in terms of his peace treaty. As we’ve studied many times in this church, that will be the event that will start the seven year tribulation period that will begin the final seven years unelapsed on Daniel’s clock and it will begin, not with the rapture, the rapture precedes this because the restrainer is removed and then the antichrist comes forward and once he comes forward and enters into this treaty, God, who’s got a stop watch in his hand with four hundred and ninety years on it, seven years unelapsed, the moment that treaty is entered into is the moment God’s finger goes back on to the restart button and the final seven years tick. So the event which will start the seven years is a peace treaty between the antichrist and unbelieving Israel. Charles Feinberg is saying, how could that happen unless Israel is in unbelief? Unless God recycles them back to their land in unbelief? That’s what he says in this last sentence here… Otherwise, it is difficult to see how a covenant could be made nationally with such a godless one as the Roman prince of the end times… 23:22

There is a picture of the seven year tribulation period and what starts it is a covenant between unbelieving Israel and the antichrist. The prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 28, I think verse 15, and verse 18 (Isa 28:15-18), calls this covenant a covenant with Sheol or death or hell itself. Now, how could Israel enter into that covenant when she has the Holy Spirit in her? She would never do that. She only does it because she’s in unbelief without the Holy Spirit. She can only do it as the body and the skeleton and the bones and the muscles assembled, without the breath. As long as she’s without the breath or the ruah or regeneration or conversion, she’s a candidate for entering into that covenant. So that’s why what I’m describing here, this twofold regathering of Israel, is completely in harmony with other prophetic texts. In fact, the book of Revelation describes Israel in the tribulation period as mystically called Sodom and Egypt. Revelation, 11, verse 8 (Rev 11:8) concerning the two witnesses says: Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified… So the city where their Lord was crucified, the two Jewish witnesses, is obviously the city of Jerusalem and you’ll notice in this passage here that at this particular point in history, in the tribulation period before Israel’s conversion, Jerusalem itself will be called, mystically, Sodom, depravity and Egypt, bondage. So this is a picture of the body without the breath and you know, a lot of people, they look at the state of Israel today and they look at how she’s kind of leading the charge, so to speak, on these vaccine mandates where you have to walk around with ankle bracelets and you know, all this kind of stuff and you know, all of the mandates, all of the lockdowns, all of the mandatory vaccinations and it’s kind of peculiar to look at Israel leading the charge into that whole thing and people say, I can’t believe this is happening in Israel. Well, you should believe it, because Israel would be according to God in a state of deception and darkness before the tribulation period even starts. In fact, they’re leading the charge many times into the New World order, because they’ve been recycled into the land for that very purpose, to enter into the treaty with the Roman prince or the antichrist. So, this is something that you’ll hear from very few pulpits, what  describing here, this twofold re-gathering of the Jews into their land and yet when you understand this and see it clearly taught in the Bible, suddenly world events start to make a lot of sense. 27:02

Genesis, 2, verse 7 (Gen 2:7) says this, I mean, does God put a body together without the breath? God has never done that before, has He? Well, sure He has. He did that with Adam and when you go back to Genesis, 2, verse 7, it says: Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground… So notice he is formed, but then the passage goes on and says: and… that’s a conjunction… and… that’s the next thing in the sequence… and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living person… So, clearly you go back to the original creation account and God has already done this kind of a work. He’s brought a man into existence without breath and then at a subsequent point, then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. So, just as there is a twofold formation of Adam, physical and then spiritual, Ezekiel is seeing the exact same thing concerning Israel in the last days. The bones, the muscles, the skin coming together first and then at a subsequent point, after Ezekiel prophesies a second time, then the breath enters the body. Now, look at the very end of verse 10  (Ezek 37:10) and I’m not entirely sure what to do with this. He calls it an exceedingly great army and as Ezekiel is describing this and I think he’s describing a process and so it’s sort of tricky, what part of the process is Ezekiel  looking at. Is he looking at the breath? or is he looking at the body? It doesn’t say but in the process of this, the nation of Israel becomes an exceedingly great army and I can’t help but think of modern times when the nation of Israel was completely and totally outnumbered and won miraculously. Nobody bet on the Israelis in 1948, absolutely nobody and yet 1948, they became a nation again against overwhelming odds. Nobody bet on the Israelis in 1967. The so called six-day war and yet when the dust settles, not only does Israel win but her borders increase. Nobody bet on the Israelis in 1973 in the Yom Kippur War and yet when the dust settles, you know, Israel is the victor and Yasser Arafat you know, got so frustrated losing that he decided to go to the Soviets to learn how to do propaganda, because if the Soviets know how to do anything, it’s propaganda. Experts in it. Just look at the American public educational system as an example and I don’t know how far out on the limb I want to go with this, but Yasser Arafat figured out, we can’t beat these people militarily, they keep winning. So the Soviets say come on over and we’ll help you with this. What you have to do is convince the world that they’re an illegal occupier. You have to convince the world that they are involved in systemic racism, sound familiar? You have to convince the world that they are involved in structural racism and they committed genocide against the population that was already there; and Arafat probably said well, who would believe that? And the Soviets said, just keep saying it over and over again and it will sink in; and with enough propaganda, now the world community thinks that and the whole name of the game is to, you know, divide the nation of Israel. The identical argument is being used today to destabilize the United States. They’re the exact same arguments. You know, we displaced in an indigenous population, we committed genocide. Biden’s ambassador to the UN, I think her last name is Greenfield, if I remember right, give a speech not long ago to the UN accusing America of not just having racists in it, if that’s all she meant, we could agree with that, there’s racists in America, there’s racists in every culture. But she said, very specifically, that America is racist from its founding documents. In other words, the structure of America from its roots is structurally racist and systemically racist. There’s absolutely no talk about the progress the United States made towards overcoming slavery, towards overcoming the Jim Crow South. All of that is eliminated from history, and the youth today through the lens of critical race theory are taught over and over again that America’s racist. Well, if America is structurally racist from its core, then you’ve got to tear everything down, right? And you’ve got to reset it. Well, how are you going to reset it? Well, this is where they use the word imagine. When they use the word imagine, they want a America that is cooperative with one world Socialism or one world Communism or one world Marxism; they don’t want a free and independent, prosperous United States standing in the way of the great global reset. 33:34

So, if that is the agenda, then you have to convince the world that somehow America was rotten from the core and it has to be torn down and they call themselves progressives, because progressive means they’re making progress. That’s what progressive means. You’ll see slogans like this “lean forward” on certain cable channels, political campaigns, “lean forward”. What does that even mean? What are we progressing to? See, they don’t tell you that. What they’re progressing to is one world Marxism and if you think one world Marxism is nice, just ask yourself why are all the people living under Marxism coming here? Legally and illegally. I mean, if it’s working so great we shouldn’t have a border crisis, should we? But this is the perpetual propaganda the people are under whether it’s education, media, sadly from the pulpit, and it’s the identical thing that they’re saying about the nation of Israel. Yasser Arafat having picked that up from the Soviets and he had to go that direction cause Israel kept winning, militarily. I mean, why did Israel keep winning? Because Ezekiel says, she’d become a great army; and so because of this passage, I believe the whole agenda against Israel had to be changed. Yasser Arafat after losing three times was smart enough to figure that out and so, lo and behold that’s where we find ourselves. 35:17

Ezekiel 37

1. Vision: Valley of the Dry Bones (Ezek 37:1-14)
   1. Vision (Ezek 37:1-10)
   2. Interpretation (Ezek 37:11-14)
2. Sign: Two Sticks (Ezek 37:15-28)
   1. Sign (Ezek 37:15-17)
   2. Interpretation (Ezek 37:18-28)

We go down to verse 11 and we have an interpretation of the vision that Ezekiel just saw. Look at the first part of verse 11 (Ezek 37:11), it says: Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are… So the bones represent something… These bones are the whole house of Israel… And this is how in prophetic writings we learn to distinguish between plain language and figurative language.

Plain language is called denotative language, figurative language is called connotative language and anybody who communicates in linguistic form is either communicating through plain speech or figurative speech. So there are some things that are meant to be taken at face valley, there are other things that are meant to be taken as a figure of speech in any communication. My wife says, how did you sleep last night? I said I slept great, I slept until 8:00 AM, which is true by the way and then I say, I slept like a log. So there I just used a denotative statement, 8:00 AM and a connotative statement in the same sentence. When I say, I slept like a log, the word “like” communicates in linguistic form a simile. So that’s how to understand the Bible, particularly prophecy, because there’s people running around saying, it’s all figurative. No, it’s not. There are some things that are figurative and some things that are not figurative. Oh, you can’t understand that the book of Revelation, it’s just a bunch of symbols. Well, there are a lot of symbols in there, but not everything in the book of Revelation is a symbol and you have to learn to distinguish which is which. So you’ll notice that when an interpretation is provided, the bones are meant to be understood as figurative. The interpretation is meant to be understood as plain literal. So whenever a vision is interpreted, you know that the vision is dealing with connotative language, but now here comes the denotative language. You always look for, in the text, an interpretation provided, because that’s your clue to switch from figurative to literal. This is why the temple, Ezekiel, 40, through 46 roughly, is not symbolic. The temple is literal. There will be a functioning fourth temple in the millennial kingdom that will be just as literal and just as real as was the Solomonic temple and you say well, how do you know that? I know that because when I get to the temple description in Ezekiel, 40, through 46 nowhere does the prophet Ezekiel say, the temple represents X.. The temple represents Y. Now, he does do that with the valley of the dry bones. The valley of the dry bones and what you saw there represent something, but it never does that with the temple. The temple itself is meant to be understood as a straightforward treatment. The temple that’s coming in the millennial kingdom will be just as literal as was the Solomonic temple. How do I know that?

Because as we’ve shared in this series, the book of Ezekiel is symmetrical. The things happening at the beginning of the book are repeated at the end of the book. Beginning of the book, Ezekiel is commissioned, end of the book he is recommissioned. Beginning of the book his mouth is closed, end of the book his mouth is open. Beginning of the book, the glory of God departs from the temple, the end of the book the glory of God  returns to the temple, and what balances those two sections is the fulcrum, the description of the judgment on the nations chapters 25 through 32. 40:13

The reason I put this synthetic slide up is to communicate that if what I’m saying here is true, you cannot play a misguided hermeneutical game of saying the Solomonic temple is interpreted through one lens but Ezekiel’s fourth temple is to be interpreted through a different lens. Whatever you’re doing with the Solomonic temple, and everybody believes that there actually was a Solomonic temple, temple number one. If that’s how the Solomonic temple is described and the book is symmetrical, then you can’t play this game of saying well, the fourth temple is really not the fourth temple. It just represents the body of Christ or the church or something like that. To play that game is to switch your method of interpretation right in the middle of a book and the prophet Ezekiel will not allow you to do that based on the symmetry that’s given here and beyond that, it goes into tremendous detail of this millennial temple in Ezekiel, 40 through 46, mind numbing detail and nowhere does the prophet say the temple represents this or the temple represents that. But he does do that with the valley of the dry bones. So the valley of the dry bones is an image but it’s meant to communicate a literal point beginning at verse 11 (Ezek 37:11), because the prophet himself tells us that. So as you continue on, what does he say about this valley of the dry bones that came to life? What does it represent? Let’s go back to verse 7 (Ezek 37:7) and get the whole picture: So I prophesied as I was commanded… Good move Ezekiel, always do what God says… and as I prophesied, there was a noise and a rattling; bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and beheld, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, so they come to life… Verse 10 (Ezek 37:10): So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, Son of man… See how easy this is? All you do is pay attention to the text… Son of man, these bones are the… First Baptist church of Houston (Laughs), it does not say that…. Son of man, these bones are the… birth of the church on the day of Pentecost, it doesn’t say that. The church is not even in Ezekiel’s mind. Why is that? Because the church was an unknown mystery at the time Ezekiel saw this. The church itself has not been disclosed. If you suddenly insert into this, as replacement theologians do, make this the church, you’re forcing Ezekiel to talk about something he didn’t have the foggiest idea about: The body of Christ… Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished and we are completely cut off… These bones coming together is not the church. 44:11

The first reference you get to a coming church in the Bible is Matthew, 16, verse 18 (Matt 16:18). That’s a good six hundred years later. Where Jesus will say, as now Israel has rejected him nationally: I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock.. Peter’s confession, not Peter… Upon this rock I will build… Notice the verb, oikodomeo, future tense… I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it… and when Peter heard that, no doubt he said to the Lord, what you talking about Willis? (laughs) Very loose translation. What show is that by the way? Different Strokes, what you talking about Willis? I mean, Peter knew absolutely nothing  about the church. I mean, it probably shocked him more than anybody else that Jesus would give this disclosure. What church? What are you talking about? Church? So my point is the church is something that doesn’t exist or isn’t even announced until Matthew, 16, verse 18 (Matt 16:18). The church is not Israel and Israel is not the church. In fact, Paul in 1st Corinthians, 10, verse 32 (1 Cor 10:32) distinguishes Israel and the church when he says: Do not offend Jews or Greeks, or the church of God… So notice that the church is not Jews. Now there are Jews in the church. But the church itself is not a national entity comprising strictly of Jews as was the case in Old Testament times. Arnold Fruchtenbaum says, if you want to validate this just look at the book Acts after the church is born and before the temple is destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. The book of Acts covers a time period about three decades. The church has been born Acts, 2. Israel has not been dispersed into worldwide dispersion, AD70. So the book of Acts is right in between those two events and Fruchtenbaum observes that as you go through the book of Acts the two groups are always kept separate. Israel is Israel, the church is the church.

Arnold Fruchtenbaum – Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, “Israel and the Church,” in Issues in Dispensationalism, ed. Wesley R. Willis and John R. Master (Chicago: Moody, 1994), 118.

“In the book of Acts, both Israel and the church exist simultaneously. The term Israel is used twenty times and ekklēsia (church) nineteen times, yet the two groups are always kept distinct.”

He says: In the book of Acts, both Israel and the church exist simultaneously. The term Israel is used twenty times and the word for church, ekklēsia, nineteen times, yet the two groups are always kept distinct… Always. So there is no way in which the church has fulfilled Ezekiel’s vision. 47:34

That’s the point I’m trying to get at and it’s very disappointing to go to a church, a big church that teaches prophecy the way we do, and to read the coloring books in the children’s section, which I went and did and everybody thought I was a weirdo for doing it, but they had a little coloring book on the prophet Ezekiel and it was a really neat coloring book and they got to Ezekiel, 37, and they said in this little coloring book, aimed at children, I don’t know if I’m really blaming the big church for doing this, it’s just so many churches function where they’re kind of grabbing children’s material from an online vendor or something and that online vendor is not in harmony with the doctrine of the church. That’s the kind of thing that happens when your church gets too big, is you lose control of things being taught to kids. So here at Sugar Land Bible church there are countless conversations about what is being taught to the youth in our children’s program and is it in harmony with what is being taught from the pulpit; and Gee, we got this outside source that we want to share with our kids. Can you as the pastors and you and the elders look through it to see if it’s in harmony? Now, when your church gets too big, you can’t do that anymore. But that’s what we try to do here. I mean, everything that we teach in this pulpit, we are seeking to line up perfectly as best we can, even if we have to edit things out in children’s material, and so that’s why when I go to churches, I do weird things, I go to the coloring book section because I want to see how this big church handles this big problem and I want to see if there’s disharmony between what is being taught from the pulpit and being taught to kids. In fact, we were at a church in the Dallas area where the elders had absolutely no clue, I mean, zilch, zero, no clue what was happening in the youth group. The elders were fairly conservative people and what was being taught in the youth group were books like Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, you know, Velvet Elvis, all this kind of stuff, which is all emergent church stuff and obviously there’s a lack of oversight in that particular church and by the way, our tracts out there, we’re going to try to get those to line up with church doctrine also, what we believe is biblical doctrine because we don’t want to be out there sending discordant messages. 50:43

So all of that being said, I was in this very large church, looking at the coloring books, which is weird to see a 55 year old man doing stuff like this. But in case they handcuffed me and take me in, I’m giving you my explanation as to why I was doing that; and it says in the coloring book when you get to Ezekiel, 37 that this vision was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, which is basically the  amillennial, replacement theologian’s perspective. So they weren’t taking it the way the pulpit took it, as this is obviously a futuristic prophecy that concerns only the nation of Israel in the last days and has nothing to do with the church. Was this vision fulfilled on the day of Pentecost? It was not, for the simple reason that Ezekiel couldn’t see the day of Pentecost, because the day of Pentecost is the beginning of the church and the church is a what? A mystery. The day of Pentecost was absolutely wonderful. There were three thousand people converted on the day of Pentecost. There were three thousand Hebrews who heard Peter preach and believed his message, and the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit at that point started, identifying people with the body of Christ. I mean, it was a wonderful thing. But it is small potatoes in comparison to what Ezekiel saw. What Ezekiel saw was a national conversion. There was no national conversion of Israel on the day of Pentecost for the simple reason that yeah, three thousand people got saved. Do you know how many people were actually in Jerusalem at that time? Josephus tells us over a million. I mean, if this vision was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, there wouldn’t have been three thousand saved, there would have been over a million Jews saved. Charles Feinberg says correctly, see how far I’ve got to go back? I’ve got to go back to books written when I was 3 years old to get the truth. That’s how much the current generation of theologians has rewritten history rejecting what I’m saying here and the reason I quote these commentators is some of you have never heard some of the things I’m saying and you’re thinking I’ve come up with a new doctrine. You see, I have to come up with no new doctrine. I am following a well-traveled path of Bible interpreters. It’s just the path recently has gotten a little blurred. Some dust has kind of settled on the path. We’ve got to sweep away the dust and get back on the right path; and that’s what you do as a scholar, you go back to the original sources. There’s a saying out there and I’m starting to like it more and more. It says: If they’re not dead, they’re not read. I’m not interested in reading the latest thing some guy that has a PhD from Europe came out with. I mean, even though his stuff is in all the academic journals and everybody is thinking he’s the talk of the town, frankly, I’m not all that interested in what he has to say because if they’re not dead, they’re not read. Charles Feinberg is dead. So I guess I’m safe reading him, Amen?

Charles L. Feinberg – The Prophecy of Ezekiel: The Glory of the Lord, Paperback ed. (Chicago: Moody, 1969; reprint, Chicago: Moody, 1984), 209.

“In addition to the gift of the responsive heart the Lord will grant the gift of his Holy Spirit to willing ones in Israel. This is the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Israel in the future, not that at Pentecost.”

He says in 1969: In addition to the gift of the responsive heart the Lord will grant the gift of his Holy Spirit to willing ones in Israel. This is the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Israel in the future, not that at Pentecost… It’s what he says. This is not talking about the day of Pentecost. This is talking about the future national conversion of Israel. 55:07

So, I know, my experience with churches, that’s probably why I decided to be a pastor. I just got tired of being in everybody else’s mess. I’d rather create my own mess, thank you very much. But I remember sitting under pastors, preachers, teachers, that always said: This vision is the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost; and I remember almost screaming at the television when I heard this or even in a worship service, wanting to just yell out, read verse 11! because if you read verse 11, you wouldn’t be saying what you just said. Verse 11 is very clear: He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel… It could not be clearer and yet we’re walking in total confusion today. You continue on in verse 11 (Ezek 37:11) and it says: …behold… These are the bones… They say, Our bones are dried up and our current hope has perished and we have been completely cut off… So what is this talking about? It’s talking about Israel in a desperate state, that’s what the dryness in the bones represents. When Israel is at her darkest point, God moves His hand, is what it’s saying. So you might find yourself today in a desperate state about something, where you have absolutely no solution to it, whatever it is. May I just encourage you that you’re actually a pretty good place? Because now you’re in a position to see God work. God was not going to work in and through Israel as long as they were living high and prospering. They had to be brought to a place of desperation to see God’s hand, because if God moved His hand while they were prospering, they would take credit for the moving hand of God and God will not share His glory with another. So God has orchestrated history in such a way that He’s not going to move His hand in fulfillment of His word until Israel is at her most desperate place; and that takes us to verses 12 and 13 (Ezek 37:12-13): Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of… The Palestinians, Oops! It doesn’t say that… Into the land of Israel… See? Palestinian is what Arafat learned from the Soviets. Just keep saying over and over again that Israel displaced an innocent people group. Well, Gee what should we call them? Call them Palestinians, because after all,  Hadrian called that land Palestine back in the 2nd Century and by the way, Hadrian when he called the land Palestine back in the 2nd Century, named it after the Philistines, which was an antisemitic slur against Israel naming the land after Israel’s enemies and Hadrian’s a Roman Emperor, 2nd Century, in his attempt to pretend like the Jews were never there. So, Arafat, from the Soviets, most likely learned just call it Palestine and keep calling it Palestine over and over and over again and keep using this language “occupied land on Palestinian territory” and say it over and over again and you know what you’re going to be able to do that you couldn’t do militarily cause prophecy predicts Israel will become a great army? You’re going to put a propaganda machine in place where the world community is going to do your bidding for you. I don’t think we fully understand the power of propaganda. Repeat a lie long enough and eventually people will believe it. I mean, people would never believe we came from monkeys, would they? Probably a hundred years ago the whole idea seemed ridiculous, but now almost everybody believes that. Why? Because you just teach it and say it over and over again, and say it over and over again, and if you want to interject a contrary opinion, they push a button and the cancel culture moves in and your whole perspective disappears and you can’t bring Christianity into the public schools, so you can’t teach anything that contradicts evolution. So it’s a dogmatic fact and so because it’s a dogmatic fact, it is taught that way, everybody believes it. That’s the power of propaganda. That’s the myth of the Middle East that are happening now as I speak. Israel displaced some kind of civilization there. 1:00:21

Verse 13 (Ezek 37:13): Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people… Now to be honest with you, I can’t help when I see this of thinking about the Holocaust. The graves, the dryness, the desperate conditions, the Holocaust images that we know all too well. But the truth of the matter is and I don’t know if I should say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. If the Holocaust did not happen, and I abhor the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a satanic attempt to wipe out the Jews from planet earth based on their race regardless of what Whoopi Goldberg said this week or last week and instead of being banned from media, she’s punished by having to be removed for two weeks from the View, as if that’s a punishment. Oh my goodness! This class is about ready to end and I’m just getting going here. If the Holocaust hadn’t happened, 1948 wouldn’t have happened. Why is that? Because World War I prepared the land for the people. That happened at the San Remo Conference. I’ve given you these sources before Jacques Gauthier and Joan Peters, they argued legally that the whole legal framework was in place from the United Nations, of all people/entities, for the nation of Israel to go back into their land legally, that was subsequent World War I. Without World War I you would not have had the land prepared for the people. The problem is the people didn’t understand that they needed the land. So just as World War I prepared the land for the people, World War II prepared the people for the land, because once the Holocaust happened and a third of the Jews were wiped out, then it’s obvious we’re not going to get along very well in this world unless we’re in our own land and that created the psychological impetus for 1948, because many, many people ask, why the Holocaust? It was so evil and I’m not here trying to defend evil. I’m just trying to say that evil happened and yet God used it. He used it for psychological preparation for the Jews to return to their land and you’ll notice and I’ll stop with this, twice in verse 12, once in verse 13, God keeps calling Israel “My people”. They are His people when they are in belief, they are His people when they are in unbelief. Through all of these horrors that I’m talking about, Israel always remained the people of God. Earthly circumstances could not have changed that.

Let’s pray father we’re grateful for Your word, Your truth, grateful for people that want to hear it and I just pray that you would use these studies that we’re doing on the Middle East to fortify our understanding of things happening in our world today and I pray that will walk these things out this week. I pray Your hand of blessing will be on the main service that follows. We’ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus’ name and God’s people said, Amen